School health improves after nurses returned

Vaccination rates up in southern schools after comptroller report prompts Litzman to reinstate public health nurses.

School nurse 311.
(photo credit:Thinkstock)

The restoration of public health nurses in schools in the South was responsible
for increasing the vaccination rates of Israeli pupils to 90 percent, the Health
Ministry said Wednesday.

Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman decided
earlier this year that due to the state comptroller’s intense criticism of the
privatization of the School Health Service in recent years, children – at least
in the problematic South – would again have public health nurses.

The
performance of a series of private companies greatly reduced vaccination and
almost eliminated student health checks. The ministry, taking credit for the
improvement in the just-ended school year, did not mention that Litzman was a
strong backer of the privatization program when he was Knesset Finance Committee
chairman and that he had not managed to persuade the Treasury to restore public
health nurses around the country despite the comptroller’s demands.

The
third company to win the tender, Natali-Seculife, said it performed hearing,
growth, vision and other tests as well as vaccinations. The ministry added that
the South, with its restoration of public health nurses, had reached the success
rates of the rest of the country and that the service was of high
quality.

The ministry has issued a new tender to choose another private
contractor for the rest of the country (except for the South, where the public
nurses will remain). It said it would spend an additional NIS 30 million over
three years to enable the winner of the tender to improve services. The winning
company will be announced before the new school year begins.

The Treasury
had originally maintained that it would save millions by privatizing the
service, and the Health Ministry acquiesced, even though public health experts
inside and outside the ministry said it would result in disaster.